A blog for students of Professor Kagan's internet course to comment and highlight class topics. From the various channels for marketing on the internet, to multimedia and e-commerce business models, anything related to the class is fair game.

Friday, March 06, 2015

Instagram took a surprisingly big step forward as a marketing tool!!!

Initially released
in 2010, Instagram took a big step
forward as a marketing tool this week. Instagram announced that, for the first
time, it will enable placement of live links in posts, as part a multi-image
advertising format for the first time.

Speaking more precisely,
Instagram is now offering a new carousel-based advertisement format for
advertisers on its platform. The new format enables marketers to display
multiple images that users can view by swiping left on the mobile screen. By
offering this new function, Instagram wishes to help brands share stories
through imagery and also to offer opportunity for users to know more about
brands through the app. “Since we began offering a way for advertisers to reach
people on Instagram in 2013, we’ve heard from marketers that they want to tell
sequenced stories in beautiful, compelling ways that lead to meaningful results
for their businesses,” Instagram said in its official blog announcing this
launching. The blog also mentioned that Instagram also received feedbacks from
users that indicate users’ interest of learning more about a brand though their
substitution in Instagram.

More than this
multiple imagery display, Instagram also allows advertisers to link their photo
or video ads to outside websites and sources. Instagram simply put a “Learn
More” button at the end of photos series.

Check the new ad format here!

This tiny magic
button activates broad potential of online marketing campaigns on Instagram
platform. “For instance, a fashion company could use the carousel to
deconstruct the individual products in a ‘look.’ A car company might share an
array of different features of a vehicle and provide a link to learn more about
the new model. Or, an advertiser could showcase how multiple ingredients come together
to make a delicious meal,” mentioned in Instagram’s official blog post.

The ability to
link an imagery post to other sites will certainly be a welcome change for
marketerst. One of Instagram’s shortcomings as a promotional tool is that
there’s no way to include clickable links within posts. Because of that
limitation, Instagram has long been considered a place for businesses to build
their brand and plant their flag rather than drive traffic back to their
websites.

Instagram,
however, typically moves deliberately with new advertising foramt and so is
this time; the company said carousel ads are being introduced on a limited
basis. “In the coming weeks,” the blog post stated, “you may see carousel ads
and might notice variations of the format as we learn what people are most
interested in and what performs best.”